


The white Paladin and his koala

by dianamoth (lunaemoth)



Category: Voltron: Legendary Defender
Genre: F/M, Fluff, Friendship, Hurt/Comfort, Male-Female Friendship, Platonic Cuddling, Season/Series 07, Season/Series 07 Spoilers, Team Bonding, Team as Family
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-08-16
Updated: 2018-08-16
Packaged: 2019-06-28 08:56:52
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,496
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/15703962
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/lunaemoth/pseuds/dianamoth
Summary: Spoilers until Voltron s7e05. It builds on Pidge & Shiro living in the Green Lion and develops their friendship with appearances of the rest of the crew.--A curse came from under the blanket, and Pidge's disheveled hair popped up. “Not an octopus,” she grumbled sleepily.“I was thinking more of a koala,” Shiro admitted with a smile.





	The white Paladin and his koala

**Author's Note:**

> That title is terrible. If you have something better to suggest, please do. >.<
> 
> NB: I'm French, English isn't my first language and this isn't betaed so you can expect some mistakes. If anything bothers you please send me a nice comment with the correction.
> 
> You can find me on my tumblr for anime: dianamoth.tumblr.com

With his forearm resting over his eyes, Shiro heard the bedroom door open but didn’t bother looking up, knowing that it was Pidge coming back from her evening ablutions and getting ready for bed. As such, he was surprised when his mattress dipped under a new weight. He moved his arm and blinked at Pidge sitting by his side, pulling the blanket over her. She was so small that she nestled easily against his right side, where the absence of an arm gave her enough space to curl against his torso, her own right arm and leg settling over him.

A memory of Matt and Sam discussing the cuddling habits of their youngest suddenly came back to him. He smiled and met Katie’s eyes, daring him to push her away when she was already hugging him like a baby koala.

He chuckled. “Am I to be your teddy bear now?”

“You bet!” she replied happily, taking this as a tacit agreement. She adjusted the pillow she had brought from her own bed, closed her eyes and ordered the lights off.

His thoughts drifted as warmth spread from his side. It was a nice change. He was always so cold since he came back to himself in a new body. The iciness of space didn’t help.

“Shiro?” Pidge called in a whisper.

He hummed questioningly.

“I missed you,” she murmured. “W-we all really missed you.”

He raised his hand under the blanket and gently patted her arm. “I missed you too.” After a few seconds, he realized that she needed the closeness as a reassurance. He added: “I’m back now, and I’m not going anywhere.”

“We won’t let you,” she mumbled, her fingers closing on the fabric of his T-shirt. “Keith is unbearable when you aren’t here, anyway.”

He chuckled, and they fell in a content silence until they drifted off.

 

*

 

The following morning, Shiro asked in a whisper to his connected watch: “Did you know that Pidge is a fierce cuddler?”

“Yes,” Keith replied, amused. “I saw her and Hunk nap together after they went on a tech binge. It looked like an octopus had got him.”

A curse came from under the blanket, and Pidge's disheveled hair popped up. “Not an octopus,” she grumbled sleepily.

“I was thinking more of a koala,” Shiro admitted with a smile.

She tilted her head with closed eyes and contemplate the question. “Koala is fine. God, what hour is it?” She checked her own watch and groaned in disgust. “You two early birds are _the worst_.”

“I didn’t mean to wake you up, but in my defense, you didn’t really give me the option to leave the room,” Shiro explained.

Grumbling, Pidge climbed out of the bed and went to her own, grunting at the cold sheets and curling up like a snail in its shell to heat them up, her back to him.

Shiro obligingly left the room to finish his conversation with Keith.

 

*  


When Pidge came out of the bedroom an hour later, rubbing her eyes sleepily, Shiro was already dressed and ready for the day. His eyes drifted to her neck and his lips pursed in displeasure. The bruises left by Ezor were dark purple and blue on her throat. Luckily, it hadn’t affected her voice and breathing more than a few hours after they escaped, but it was still a gruesome sight. During the day, it was hidden under the black fabric of her suit, just a bit of blue poking out when she wasn’t wearing the helmet.

She stepped out of the bathroom five minutes later, still in her pyjamas and yawning. Before he could question her, she came up to him and held out a small open jar. It was the Altean medicine Coran had found for her.

“You were staring,” she commented at his surprise. “And I’m not an idiot, I know you asked to be with me so you could keep an eye on me.”

He chuckled self-consciously. “Well… That and you’re my best chance at having some quiet.”

She raised an eyebrow. “What about Keith?”

“He seems to have gotten really popular lately,” Shiro replied while dipping his fingers in the ointment she held for him.

“Yeah, you don’t say. I’m so jealous: how cool is that wolf?! … Aw, now I’m missing Bae Bae,” she sighed while holding up her hair with her free hand.

“We’re on our way,” he replied comfortingly. “You’ll see him again soon.”

“Yeah… Did you meet Bae bae?”

“Once. Your mother brought him to the base when she came to fetch Matt. He seems like a good dog.”

“The best!” Pidge approved cheerfully before wincing when his fingers brushed the worst of the bruise.

“Sorry.”

She shrugged. “They’re just bruises. My suit protected me from the worst of it. I’ll be fine.”

“I know you will,” he agreed. “You’re a fighter.”

 

*

 

“That looks good, Hunk.”

“I think so too! And I had this idea for…”

A loud crash in the back of the Green Lion interrupted their conversation. Pidge leaned over her armrest and shouted: “Still alive?”

“I’m good!” Shiro replied in between muttered curses.

“Uh… Shouldn’t you help him?” Hunk asked hesitantly.

“So his manly pride gets hurt and he’ll brood for hours? Nah, I don’t think so,” Pidge replied with a shrug, getting back to the schematics they were studying. “He can handle it, and if he can’t I’ll just fix whatever it was when he has his back turned.”

“Shiro broods?”

“It happens to the best of us. You were saying?”

When Shiro came back to the cockpit a few minutes later, Pidge waved him over excitedly. “Look at that!”

He leaned over her shoulder to stare at the holoprojection. “An… arm?”

“A prosthetic to replace yours! Hunk and I have been working on it. As soon as we get back to Earth, we’ll have the materials necessary for it, and we’ll ask dad to check it and improve anything he can think of!” she explained excitedly.

“That’s… that’s great, guys, thank you,” Shiro breathed, touched by the fact that they had been working on this unprompted.

“Do you want to add any special function?” Hunk asked eagerly. “I was thinking about a heater.”

“A scanner could be useful,” Pidge pointed out.

“A retractable blade,” Keith immediately suggested, appearing in the videofeed without warning.

“A shield,” Allura offered eagerly, joining the conversation with a brilliant smile.

“A hook!” Lance cried out, grinning widely. At the nonplussed expression and silence of his fellow Paladins, he explained: “You know… like Captain Hook?”

“A screwdriver!” Coran shouted from behind Allura’s shoulder.

“A hairdryer!” Romelle offered.

“What? Guys, what the hell?!” Lance spluttered.

“I thought it was a game to suggest the most ridiculous options?” Romelle said with raised eyebrows.

Hunk’s loud laughter filled the broadcast while Lance and Romelle bickered in the background. Pidge lowered the sound to a whisper with an exasperated shake of her head.

Shiro rubbed his temple as he commented to himself: “The astral plane was quieter.”

“And more boring,” Pidge pointed out.

“That too,” Shiro agreed with a lopsided smile.

Pidge offered her hand with a grin, and they high-fived.

“Come on then. What do you want?”

“A blade sounds good.”

Pidge groaned in disgust. “So predictable.” She raised the volume of the videofeed and shouted over the bickering: “Shiro wants a blade.”

“Called it,” Keith said smugly.

“Aww, man, that’s lame,” Hunk whined.

“That’s what I said,” Pidge agreed.

“A shield sounds good too, if you can do both,” Shiro added challengingly, causing Allura to cheer in victory.

“Oooh, both?! Now we’re talking!” Hunk approved, clapping his hands together.

 

*

 

Pidge came awake with a gasp and grabbed the fabric pressing against her bruised neck, trying to push it away while catching her breath. In her agitation, she only got more tangled in her sheets and pyjamas.

“Easy, Katie, easy,” Shiro murmurs as the lights turned on low and he came to help her out of her mess. “Everything is fine. You’re safe.”

She nodded but needed a few minutes to calm down and grumbled: “Stupid sheets.”

He chuckled. “You’re quite a messy sleeper.”

“Yeah. It’s better when I have something to hold on to… Did I wake you?”

“No… I had a nightmare of my own,” he admitted.

She snorted. “What a pair.” After a moment, she admitted: “I won’t be able to sleep right away. I’m going to make myself some hot milk. Want some?”

He declined, but when she came back from the small kitchen area, he was still sitting on her bed with a conspicuous empty space on his right. She nestled against his side, and he slouched to let her rest her head on his shoulder. They found comfort in each other presence, staying silent while she sipped her milk.

When she was finished, Shiro offered: “Want me to stay with you?”

She nodded, and they laid down together for the rest of the night.  



End file.
